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Plot Summary: Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy of supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling mutant, Cable.

Director: David Leitch

Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick

Runtime: 1 hour, 59 min

Main Cast:

• Ryan Reynolds as Wade / Deadpool
• Josh Brolin as Nathan Summers /  Cable
• Morena Baccarin as Vanessa
• Zazie Beetz as Domino
• Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage  Warhead
• Bill Skarsgård as Teitgeist
• T.J. Miller as Weasel
• Terry Crews as Bedlam
• Rob Delaney as Peter
• Lewis Tan as Shatterstar

Review by: Chris

The first Deadpool film was the perfect combination of hungry creatives and a star fighting towards a vision. A movie that worked despite a limited budget fueled by an actor at the top of his game it seemed like lightning had struck FOX's Marvel catalog.  Ryan Reynolds found his spark with Wade Wilson, the titular Deadpool, a former hitman turned superhuman "hero".

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The sequel sees Wade return to combat Cable (Josh Brolin), after the latter comes from the future with a vendetta against a young mutant child.  Deadpool must now assemble an X-Force, including mutant Domino (Zazie Beetz), to help save the child. After news of the previous director leaving the sequel after clashes with the producers and studios, it seemed like the sequel would lack the charm and focus of the previous film. Fortunately for us, that didn’t happen. What we have is lightning striking twice and giving us a movie that balances a high budget with a high concept that loses none of the charm and creativity that makes the first film work so well. Ryan Reynolds has found his muse.

What I Liked: 

Though mostly known for his irreverence and juvenile humor, the comics Deadpool often works best when they balance that humor with Deadpool’s own personal struggles with wanting to be more heroic. After an explosive introduction, we are shown a Deadpool with a goal, a selfless one that is also a sort of selfish one (it works), that drives the film. This goal becomes the heart of the film and balances some of its more bombastic moments by returning to that heart and reminding the audience why Wade is doing what he is doing.  It works and it shows just how far comic book movies have come by being able to establish and stay true to the films thematic elements while at the same time proving the thrills of the genre.

The cast does a great job of playing off of Ryan Reynolds still hilarious Deadpool. I was afraid that the schtick of the character would grow stale after the sometimes funny but ultimately overbearing ad campaign, but the Deadpool is at his best and worst and all of the characters have great chemistry with the actor. Returning from the previous film, Blind Al and T.J. Miller’s Weasel return and are part of some of the films funniest moments. Zazie Beetz steals the show as Domino having some of the best action scenes and delivering some of the films best payoffs. Same with the X-Force. Characters literally giving their true comic origins on screen to having the films biggest and best surprises in the film, they are almost worth the price of admission. Josh Brolin’s Cable is kind of the odd man out though, he was solid in the role but the character didn’t have as much time with Wade as others, nor a truly stand out sequences like the X-Force or Domino.  With Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead returning, the latter with an adorable mate, the characters around Deadpool make for a really interesting world and are a lot of fun.

One of the more frustrating things about modern comedies is the reliance on quick rapid-fire jokes, and while Deadpool has tons of those it also has some really fantastic long-form jokes and payoffs. Including multiple callbacks to not only silly comic lore but the first movie, it rewards people that know the character, while it gives really subtle winks and giant AHA moments that balances its variety of comedy really well.  I don’t think I’ve laughed as hard at a superhero movie ever, with Ryan Reynolds really having a great time with the material. The action sequences, a staple of the comic book genre, isn’t quite reinvented here, but the addition of tons of physical humor with some great set pieces gives these scenes an edge over some of their more serious contemporaries. Director David Leitch, fresh off Atomic Blonde, continues his streak of expertly crafted fight scenes and the bigger budget does well for the film making it truly feel like a comic book on the big screen.

What I Didn’t Like:

Though I loved what was done with the X-Force I wish we got a bit more backstory on some of the lesser characters. Al,so the pacing of some of the one liners kinda made it hard to keep up with everything. But in all fairne,ss nothing really stood out as something worth mentioning here. Nothing egregious enough to be upset about, just some small dialogue and plot choices that would’ve made for something a bit more interesting, but that would go into some spoiler territory.

Images Courtesy of IMDB